Renee Kunkel is very involved in the RBHS community. She plays on the girls’ varsity golf, basketball, and track teams and used to run cross country. She is active in Best Buddies and the Conflict Resolution Team, and she was inducted into the National Honors Society and does a lot of volunteer hours with them. While Kunkel doesn’t have a favorite sport or club, she said, “It depends on the season for sports, but which ever one I’m in, I give the team my all.”

All these activities take a lot of fuel.  When she’s not at a practice or at an event for clubs, which is very rare, Kunkel likes to eat and that means anything that’s edible. She doesn’t have a specific food she goes to when she’s hungry; she’s satisfied with any kind.

Kunkel often goes out to eat with her siblings and her parents in her free time. She is the youngest of four kids and out of those four, she has a twin brother named Jimmy. They have been close their whole life. Kunkel is very close with her whole family and loves to spend her time with them.

As far as her college search, Kunkel isn’t sure exactly what college she would like to attend next year; she was thinking DePaul University or Loyola University of Chicago, but close to home is a must-have factor.

While her choice of college may be in doubt, her career plans are coming into focus.

“At first, I was thinking physical therapy or occupational therapy,” Kunkel said. Then a couple weeks ago her AP Biology class went to go see an open-heart surgery and that got her thinking.

“That was really cool,” Kunkel said, “Now I’m interested in being a perfusionist.” A perfusionist is a medical specialist who operates the heart-lung machine during open heart surgery.  Still, Kunkel realizes that she hasut she said that she has a lot of work to do until her college search is complete.

While she’s still in high school, Kunkel just wants to enjoy her senior year and all the events that come with this exciting time.